Frequency: (153)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
Possibly an altered spelling of Walloon Debatis, a topographic name, with the preposition de, from bati ‘common land’, ‘village green’, or a habitational name for someone from a place named with this word, for example Batty in Nandrain or Le Baty in Xhoris, both in the Belgian province of Liège, or Les Battis in Laneffe, Namur.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
